


There Was A Time Before

by 51N3RG



Series: Time to Shine [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, Mr. H is mentioned, So is Eri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 07:44:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16300940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/51N3RG/pseuds/51N3RG
Summary: It's been a year since the game and a few weeks since the Traverse Town incident. And now everything has gone back to normal. Or at least, as normal as Shibuya can be. But lately something's been going on with Joshua. He seems... out of it. And what's with all these thoughts of the past in his head?





	There Was A Time Before

_**("Despair" plays)** _

He looked at his pistol, the very same pistol he had had used to kill Neku, and before that, to leave his home world. "What is the matter with me?" he asked himself. "It's like, my memories are trying to tell me something. But wha-" he was cut off when a pain filled his head. "Ugh..." he said in pain. All of a sudden, images filled his mind...

_**("Despair" ends)** _

_**(Flashback)** _

_**(An instrumental version of "A Father Should Be" from "Jem and The Holograms" plays)** _

He looked around at Daybreak Town, his home, once so beautiful and lush, now covered in ruins of what it once was. He didn't choose to save it however, instead, he took off toward the plaza, pistol in hand, fleeing from the war.

He then lifted his pistol and pointed it to an open center in the fountain plaza.

He fired and once he did, a keyhole shaped portal appeared, waiting for him to enter.

He took one last look at his home, plagued by heartless... 'Forgive me everyone' he thought.

"JOSHUA!" screamed a girl with snow-white hair, teal eyes, and a silver star necklace.

_**("A Father Should Be" ends)** _

_**(Flashback End)** _

"Ow, my head..." he said in pain. "'Every time I think of that moment, it's like there's something else I have to remember, something I have to make up for.'" He said and thought at the same time (Anyone ever try that before in a fic?). "'That girl... who was she?'" he tried to think about her but came to no conclusion. He then shook the thought away as he looked at the time. "Time to meet up with Neku and the others." He then took a deep breath and made his way out of his home.

* * *

_**(Later at the statue of Hachiko, A/N: Time for a little Drake and Josh reference)** _

_**("Underground" plays)** _

"Lohan," said Beat.

"Duff," argued Neku.

"Lohan!"

"Duff!"

Joshua sighed as he approached his friends. 'Typical' he thought.

"Can you two please stop it? You're driving me mad." said Shiki as she held her hands against Mr. Mew's ears (Hey, he shouldn't have to be annoyed, he's too adorable) while using her shoulders to block out the argument from her own. She wasn't sure which noise was worse, the one they fought back in the UG or the one that was giving her a headache now in the RG. Even fighting Dream Eaters wasn't as annoying as this.

The two boys just ignored their friend's request and kept on going. That was when the girls saw the composer approaching. "How about you ask Joshua?" said Rhyme.

"Fine, we will." said the two in unison.

"You will what?" Joshua asked, already knowing the answer.

"Josh, who'd win in a slap fight, Lohan or Duff?" asked Neku.

"No contest, Lohan." he replied bluntly.

"What?" "Hahaha, in yo face, phones!" (Beat and Neku are talking at the same time there)

"Why Lohan?"

"Because Duff cannot take a punch my dear Proxy, and neither could you in a slap fight." He smirked.

Neku just rolled his eyes.

"Well now that that headache is gone dears, what's new?"

"Nothin' much, my folks are still naggin' me about my grades."

"You really should at least try, Beat."

"Rhyme, don't go soundin' like Mom."

"But it's fun." she smiled.

Neku laughed. "Not much new with me either, what about you Shiki?"

"Well, Eri and I have been trying to work on some new designs for the fashion show coming up soon."

She then took out her sketchpad and showed her friends the three newest designs she had.

The first one was of a girl with long, light brown hair with pink streaks in it and a blue bow. She wore a long pink jersey like dress with blue and hot pink lining over a white under shirt, a pair of white tights with two black stripes on either leg, and a pair of pink high tops. For accessories she had a long necklace with white flowers, a cuff that matched the tights and a blue beaded bracelet on her right arm, and multiple bangles on the left.

The next one had blonde hair that went down to her back in a braid held up by pink scrunchies. She wore a green and pink shirt with a black belt underneath a white Letterman jacket with sleeves that matched the design of the Earthshake pin and a symbol matching the Natural Puppy pin on either sleeve. She also wore a bright orange skirt, black tights with a green, white, and pink floral print, red sneaker-boots with black laces, a pair of bangles on her right wrist, and a pink and green hat with two white stripes on the side.

The final one looked to have been based off of Eri's appearance. But the long pinkish-red hair was cropped however, matching Shiki's hairstyle, and had a bright blue bow tied in it. She wore a pink tank top over a blue one, a transparent jacket that matched the design on the Black Rose pin, two necklaces, a crazy pair of pants that was blue on one side and purple with yellow scribbles on the other, and bright yellow sneakers with pink laces.

"Wow, Shiki these are amazing." said Rhyme.

"Thanks, but I just feel like I could make them look fiercer somehow..." she trailed off and held Mr. Mew tight to her chest. "I based them off some of the pins from the Game and added my own special touch. But I dunno if they're good enough."

"Why not? After all, you made them, anything you design is good." said Neku.

"Really?" she blushed.

"Of course. Besides, if they weren't, you wouldn't have your piggy."

"He's a CAT!"

"Then why does he look like a pig?" asked Neku, smirking.

"Oh, now you're doing it on purpose!" She stomped her foot.

"Doing what?"

"Don't play dumb with me Neku Sakuraba, you know just what you're doing!"

Joshua giggled at his friends' petty argument. 'He just loves to annoy her' he thought. ("Underground" ends) But then it happened again. A surge of pain went through his head causing him to grip it and let out a cry of pain, causing his friends to look at him in worry. Images once again filled his mind...

* * *

_**(Flashback)** _

A 12-year-old Joshua was in the Foretellers' nook of the Daybreak Town castle, along with the white-haired girl and five other people.

The first one was a young woman in her early twenties who wore a blue-gray mask with a light blue and white viper on it and a light blue hooded cloak with aquamarines hanging off of it over a lavender blue robe, shirt, and sash, each with light gold embroidering. Tying it together was a bright light blue ribbon with pearls on the ends and an imperial topaz on the clasp.

The second was a boy of seventeen who wore a white leopard mask and ears and a yellow-gold hooded cloak with turquoises tied together by a red-orange ribbon with paraiba tourmalines on the ends and the clasp over a dark grey robe, and a light gold shirt and sash, each with dark grey embroidering.

Third was a young man in his thirties with light skin who wore a white and gold unicorn mask with an ice-blue mane and a white hooded cloak that had hackmanites and a gold ribbon with amethysts on the ends and the clasp over a light blue robe and a white shirt and sash, each with light gold embroidering.

Next was a more muscular looking man in his late thirties with dark skin who wore a dark grey bear mask and ears and a tan hooded cloak with yellow quartzes hanging off of it and a gold ribbon with rubies on the ends and the clasp over a tan robe and a light brown shirt and sash, each with brown embroidering.

The fifth and final person was a girl with pale skin about the same age as the boy in yellow. She wore a white and periwinkle fox mask and ears and a rose-colored hooded cloak with Zambian emeralds over a white robe and a dark rose-colored shirt and sash, each with gold embroidering. Tying her's together was a light yellow ribbon with apatites on the ends and an aventurine on the clasp.

"There's a traitor among us." said the man in light blue as he stepped forward, breaking the silence.

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"Are you certain?" asked the woman in blue. "What proof do you have?"

The man said nothing. Instead, he held out his hand and summoned a ball of light. Once it cleared it showed what appeared to be a purple Chirithy Dream Eater.

"I found _this_ sniffing around." he said as the small creature looked around curiously.

"Is that...a dark Chirithy?" asked the girl in rose.

The woman in blue then rose out of her chair in shock, causing the others to look at her.

"Is that...a Nightmare?" she asked.

Everyone then gasped as they got a closer look at the Chirithy. It was indeed what they feared most.

_**(Flashback End)** _

* * *

_**("Despair" plays)** _

"Augh!" screamed Joshua as tears were now forming in his eyes.

"Josh, are you ok?" asked Neku. Even though Neku's voice sounded distant, Joshua still heard him. He wanted to tell them everything was fine, that he just had a headache, but sadly, he didn't have the strength to say a word.

"Yo, Prissy boy, this ain't funny."

"Joshua c'mon, say something."

'Help!' he tried to shout, but his mind was going blank at the moment, causing no words to come out. "Joshua?" he heard Rhyme ask as she went over to him. And then before he passed out, he could've sworn that in her place, was the girl with white hair. "Z-Zee..." he managed to say the one word before he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

"Joshua, C'mon wake up." said Neku. 

Shiki then felt his forehead. "He's burning up! We should get him back to the UG."

"Right." said everyone in unison.

Neku and Beat then picked up Joshua and carried him back to his home in the UG with his friends following suite. They hurried as fast as they could and while they did, more images filled Joshua's mind...

_**("Despair" ends)** _

* * *

_**(Flashback)** _

"It's not me." The man in brown said suddenly

_**("Scent of Silence" plays)** _

"There has to be an easy way to solve this." said Joshua.

"There is," said the boy in yellow. "If we all summon our Spirits, then we'll know."

"Unfortunately, there are countless wielders in our Unions." said the woman in blue. "It would be easy for any of us to summon a Chirithy that isn't a Nightmare. I'm afraid that your suggestion wouldn't help us get to the bottom of this."

"Yeah, in that case," said the girl in pink as she slammed her hands on the table. "Who's to say that the Nightmare you saw belongs to one of us?"

"Ava is right." said Joshua. "It could belong to anyone in your Unions."

"That's highly unlikely." said the man in white. "Do you recall the tool the wielders were given in order to make them stronger? We generally don't concern ourselves with what they have at their disposal. However― I believe those tools were the Nightmare's doing."

"The bangles?" asked Ava. "I know when they're equipped, they have the power to collect dark energy, but I thought we all agreed that was okay."

"Collecting is fine." he replied. "But using that power is equivalent of using the power of darkness."

"It's a brilliant plan." said the boy in yellow, his eyes downcast. "Everyone knows that all spirits look the same, and wielders exist in spades."

"There's no way to tell." said Joshua.

"Oh no." said Ava. "Everyone's already equipped they're bangles."

"So what now?" asked the man in brown. "How do we find out who's behind this?"

"Seeing as those bangles couldn't have been acquired by just anyone," said the man in white. "I believe it's one of us here in this room."

"No, Ira." said the woman in blue. "I respectfully disagree. What proof do we have that the bangles are tied to the power of darkness, or if a Nightmare is to blame? Not to mention, nether Yoshiya or the princess are wielders. We shouldn't simply jump to conclusions."

"Ira." said the man in brown. "Some leader you are. You've managed to plant seeds of doubt in all of us with that speech. What? Did you expect the traitor to give themselves up with that accusation of yours? That was foolish."

"Aced, that's quite enough." said the woman in blue.

"It looks to me like the Master made the wrong choice." he turned to leave.

"Wait," she said. "Where do you think you're going?"

His reply was the door slamming shut.

"I think we're done here." said the boy in yellow as he got off the table. He turned to the elders. "I trust you'll keep us all updated." He walked away.

"I hope... I hope we can all resolve this soon..." Ava bowed her head and left.

_**("Scent of Silence" ends)** _

It was down to Ira, the woman in blue, the girl with white hair, and Joshua.

"That didn't go as expected." said Ira.

"What's wrong Ira?" asked the woman in blue. "This isn't like you."

"A Lost Page... Something's missing from our Book of Prophecies. Each of our copies were said to contain events of the future. But this incident, well, it's nowhere to be found."

"And how does this whole thing with the traitor tie together?" asked Joshua.

"Like I said, it's nowhere to be found..." The three gasped. "In my book."

"Ira. Are you implying that someone is in possession of the missing page?"

"And the person with the complete Book is the traitor?"

"There is something going on, and a page is suspiciously missing from the Book. It's not so far-fetched to assume that the one who has the Lost Page has been turned, that they have fallen into the hands of darkness. Trust me."

The woman in blue examined her own copy. "There seems to be no record of it in my book either. Yoshiya?"

"Not a trace," said our future composer. "You may be onto something."

"I wonder..." said the woman in blue. "Could this have been the Master's plan all along? To grant the lost page to only one of us."

"We have no way of knowing." said Ira. "The Master is gone."

"I understand what you are saying. I promise to keep a close eye on the others. I will keep you informed, as always."

"Thanks."

"Of course. After all, that is what the Master asked of me. Come princess, it is time for your lessons." She guided the young girl out of the room.

Joshua followed suite but turned to Ira before he left. "And Ira, may your heart be your guiding key."

He then left

* * *

_**(Later)** _

Joshua was quietly lying down on the edge of the fountain in the Square. After all that talk of a traitor during the meeting, he just needed some peace and quiet. Looking at the sky, he was about to close his eyes when-

"Joshua!" The white haired girl came into his view.

"Woah!" He shot up and looked at her. "Zee? Shouldn't you be in your-"

"I'm scared." she said suddenly

"Huh?"

She sat down next to him and took a deep breath. "I know I shouldn't be worried," she said. "But I am. It's very unusual that a dark chirithy would appear, and that means someone has fallen into darkness. I haven't seen one since Mom..." she paused at the thought of her mother. "You know, but even then that didn't last long because Chirithy turned back into a spirit after the Master saved his soul. I'm worried that whoever that Chirithy belonged too, was struck down by the traitor."

"What brought on this?"

She sighed. "A few nights ago, I had a dream. And in that dream... things happened..."

"What kind of things?"

"A war. I saw everyone pushing and fighting. People lying on the ground, dead. And there were so many Heartless... I just..." by this time her eyes welled up with tears. "I got scared, so I tried to run but I couldn't. It was like my feet were glued to the ground. The last thing I saw before I woke up was a horde of Neoshadows coming at me." Tears streamed down her face as she buried it in his shirt. "I don't want my dream to come true, Joshua, I just don't. I already lost my mom because of the Heartless, I don't want to lose everyone else." She sobbed.

"Woah, woah, woah." he said. "First off, your ruining my shirt."

"Oh, sorry." she moved away.

"And second, you don't have to worry about any Heartless coming after you."

"R-really?" she sniffed.

"Really. I'll tell you what, how about we make a promise?"

_**("Traverse in Trance" plays)** _

"A promise?"

He nodded. "I'll be there to protect you if you'll do the same for me. You watch my behind, and I'll watch yours. Metaphorically of course."

She smiled at this, then she had an idea. "I know," she said. "Let's pinky swear on it." She held out her pinky as he took it with his own.

"I'll protect you, and you protect me, promise?"

"I promise." he said. "It's a pact."

They then 'commenced' the pact. "With my pinkie finger, I make a pinkie swear," they said in unison. "It's stronger then a promise and deeper then a dare. I promise to always protect my best friend when he/she needs me. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

They giggled as they felt a wave of energy pass over them, signaling that pact was made. To outsiders of the world, it would have seemed weird. But to the world's residents, this was how pacts were confirmed.

_**("Traverse in Trance" ends)**_

**_(Flashback End)_ **

* * *

"Tick, tock, tick, tock... Tick, tock, tick, tock... Tick, tock..."

"Huh?" Joshua opened his eyes and found himself looking at a clear blue sky. Moving his hand to block the sun, he got to his feet and started looking around. 'Where am I?' he wondered. Looking around, he realized he was on a platform of some kind. The sides were lined with crosses in a circular pattern while the center had two tall sloping structures of which he had never seen before. He walked to the center edge to get a better idea of where he was. When he got to the center, he looked in awe at the view of the city. 'Amazing' he thought. All of a sudden, he started to feel... sleepy....

"Time to wake up."

He didn't know how or why, but next thing he knew, he was falling down the side of the building. Then everything went dark...

* * *

_**("Dearly Beloved" plays)** _

Joshua woke up to find himself back in his room in the Dead God's Pad. "Wha-what happened?" he asked to no one in particular.

"You suddenly collapsed back at Hachiko." said a familiar voice. He turned and saw a certain ten year old girl in a beanie. "Shiki said you were burning up, so we bought you back here."

"Thank you, Raimu." he said. He patted her head and she smiled.

"Well, nice to see you're awake." said Neku as he and the others walked in.

"Yo, what happened back there man?!" exclaimed Beat. "You just like passed out without no warnin' or nothin'!"

Joshua sighed. "Well, I guess you all had to find out sooner or later." he said as he got up off the couch and stared out the window.

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately...." he said.

"Yo, you're not goin' insane are ya?"

"No, Beat." He turned to face his four friends (five if you count Mr. Mew). "The thoughts I've been having... I guess, they're visions from my past. You see, I'm not from Shibuya like you all are. My homeworld is-" he paused at the memory of the attack. "Was," he corrected himself. "A world called Daybreak Town."

"Daybreak Town?" echoed Neku. "Is that like Traverse Town?"

"Not quite Neku, dear." said the Composer. "See, like I said before, Traverse Town only appears when someone needs shelter or a place to go, Daybreak Town on the other hand..." He trailed off. "Well, I'm not sure what it's purpose was."

"What's it like?" asked Rhyme, wanting to know more as she sat down on the couch. He smiled at her and took a seat next to her. "From what I can remember, it was a beautiful place, my dear." he said. "And except for when the weather changed or night fell, it was cast in an eternal daybreak. It's residents lived happily in peace and harmony. In fact Raimu, you remind me of one of them."

"Really?" she asked. "Who?"

Joshua smiled. "Her name was..." he paused as he tried to remember the name. "It was...." He thought about it more. "Um..." he sighed. "I guess I don't remember everything fully. Not even her."

"That's ok," said Rhyme. "You know what they say, sometimes memories just need a little help getting out. Just tell us what you do remember. Like, what does she look like?"

"Hard to say. All I remember about her from my visions is that she had white hair. Everything else is a blur."

"Was, lived, had," said Beat. "Yo, Prissy Boy I dunno if ya noticed but you're usin' that happened before somethin' else did talkin' thing."

"I assume you mean past tense, Beat?"

"Yeah that, why you talkin' like that?"

Joshua sighed sadly. "The reason I'm using past tense is because Daybreak Town was no longer it's beautiful lush self when I left it. And as far as I know and remember, it still remains in that state."

He then proceeded to tell them everything he could remember about what happened. How someone had stolen the page from the Book of Prophecies, how they had caused the war that caused him to leave, and about how he broke his promise to _her_. Everyone felt bad for him, they told him that it wasn't his fault, that it was the traitor's.

"I feel like something might of happened to her." he said. "To the white haired girl I keep seeing, and... and that maybe that's why I've been having these thoughts. The war happened years ago, but it's like all of a sudden, I'm forgetting something important from it... like, I'm missing the last pieces of the puzzle."

"Well, we'll help you find those pieces." said Rhyme. "We're friends, and friends help each other." Joshua smiled at this. "Thank you Raimu," he said. He looked at the others. "I assume you're all going to go along with this?" he asked, smirking as if he already knew the answer.

"What do you think?" said Neku. "Of course we'll help."

"I'm glad." said the Composer.

"So are we." said Neku.

"Yeah," said Shiki. "Plus, I think there's something in the story that might help us find at least one piece."

"What would that be?" asked Joshua.

"You said that in Daybreak Town whenever some kind of pact was formed that the people who made it would feel a wave of energy that would confirm it, right?"

Joshua nodded.

"Well, back in the game when I made my pact with Neku, a wave of energy came over us, that confirmed our pact. I think whoever is the traitor, may be the one who created the game in the first place and they made Joshua the Composer so he couldn't get in their way."

"That's actually pretty smart, Shiki." said Neku.

"And you're probably right, since pacts can only be confirmed like that either in the game or in Daybreak Town." said Joshua.

"So what does that mean?" asked the young Bito. Joshua smiled. "It means we're one piece closer to completing the puzzle."

He then got up off the couch. "Why don't we go see if Sanae knows something? After all, he knows a lot about other worlds and the game, being the producer and all." he suggested.

Everyone agreed with this and then left the pad and made their way to the WildKat.

_**("Dearly Beloved" ends)** _

* * *

_**Secret Ending Unlocked** _

_**Now Playing: You and Me** _

* * *

_**("You and Me" from "Descendants 2" plays)** _

_We gotta be bold_

_We gotta be brave_

_We gotta be free_

_We gotta get loud_

In the Realm of Sleep, a young girl with short messy white hair, teal eyes, and a silver star necklace was freed from her weeping willow tree prison by a boy of sixteen with brown spiky hair and the famous Kingdom Key.

_Making that change_

_You gotta believe (whoa)_

_We'll look deep inside_

_And we'll rise up and shine_

_We can be bold_

She looked at him and summoned her own key which looked similar to his. The guard of her blade was colored indigo with a gold rain-guard at the bottom and the blade itself was light blue with a spike and a star of the same color at the end of the bar. Attached to the hilt of the blade was a golden star connected to a silver chain.

_We can be brave_

_Let everyone see_

He looked at her and nodded. She nodded back. They then both raised their weapons up and pointed them to the center fountain in the plaza. Then a trail of light shot out from both their weapons and a giant keyhole shaped portal appeared in front of the fountain.

_It starts with you and me (whoa, whoa, hey)_

_It starts with you and me (whoa, whoa, hey)_

The two then walked through it, his hand holding hers. It starts with you and me

_**("You and Me" ends, as does the scene)** _

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo! It's done finally. This took me like two days to do. I made this because it is an official part of a KH fanfiction series I'm writing called Time to Shine. Originally it was gonna be a spin off but then 2.8 came out so obviously, I have to change a lot of things. So until KH3 is out, I can't write the main story. For now it's just bits and pieces and other stuff. I'm writing the next story as you read, that will be up in soon. That's all for now. Bye. *Waves really fast*


End file.
